Anyone know anything about lawnmower carburetors? First off, the mower is like 4 yrs old or so and has not been maintained. My bad. But it's a decent mower. Second, last year it started running poorly, but hey, I was busy and distracted and who cares about a stinkin' lawn mower? So I ignored it. A few months ago it dawned on my that gee, I'm gonna need that mower. Did I get it serviced? Um, no. Then my brother says hey, we have a lawn man. He's gonna fix the lawn and plant new grass and I thought, cool, I have a few more weeks, seeing how the lawn guy was mowing the grass as part of his overhaul. Well, lawn guy never finished the lawn, we never got the topsoil or seed, and now my grass is like a foot high, my dogs are getting lost, and I have a dead mower.
Enter dear old dad. He's been maintaining mowers for longer than I've been alive! I'll have him help me. So I get a new spark plug, some carburetor cleaner as recommended by lawn man (see? he was good for something), some new gas, some Stabil, and we're good, right? Not quite. Mower starts and runs great! Better than last year!! For all of about 5 seconds. Then it dies. Lather, rinse, repeat. Dad says, gee, I dunno. Call a lawnmower man.
Do I? No. Now I'm a man on a mission. Right up there with that old headlight I replaced in the winter. I'm not gonna let the lawnmower beat me!! I go online. Google is my friend. I find a guy with a blog who had this same issue. He decided just to replace his carburetor, which, fortunately, is identical to mine. He posts about it on his blog. With pictures! But he ordered his new carburetor; I just want to dismantle and clean mine. Do I dare? I guess worst thing that happens is I break it, right? But in the meantime the lawn is growing. Maybe I should charge that electric weed whacker and get busy.
And tonight, my son wants steak. Cool I'll break out the grill. It worked about a month and a half ago when I made some steaks. Will it work tonight? No. I hear the hiss of gas, I see the spark of the igniter, but I get no poof. It's dark. Maybe the tube is disconnected, I don't know. Can't see. Tomorrow I'll fiddle with it. Maybe. Or is it time to replace the $20 grill? We'll see.
